Tiger And Dragon
by GauronxSousuke
Summary: Leonard's plan of resetting history goes awry when Sousuke is sent back into the past. Sousuke finds himself in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge, meeting a teenage Gauron. Sparks fly, a lot of blood is spilled, and no matter the time, their fates entwined.
1. Two Tigers

_AN: This story has slash, meaning it has one-sided shounen-ai thoughts and implications of Gauron towards Sousuke.__ If you don't like slash, there's a very high chance you will not like this story! This story is based **largely** on **Madhouse Cabaret**'s fanfic "Full Metal Panic: Versions of Violence" (which chronicles Gauron's childhood background and history, and which I cannot recommend enough!), and is meant to go hand-in-hand with it.  
_

Sousuke had no idea where he was. Just a second ago, he had been on Merida, trying to stop Amalgam's insane plan of activating the TARTAROS to change history. And now he was in a wild jungle, next to a pile of dead bodies.

He heard a click from behind his head.

"Who are you? Where did you come from?"

It sounded like Khmer to Sousuke. Unfortunately, while Sousuke could recognize how the language sounded, he couldn't understand it very well. Glancing back, Sousuke noticed the way the man was dressed. Plainly, but clean - a blue-ish gray uniform and a cap.

Sousuke did not bother to answer. He abruptly grabbed the man's arm that was holding the gun, and forced it into the sky. A shot rang out, and the man panicked. Sousuke brought a knee into the man's stomach, and finished him off with a blow to the crotch. As the man was on the ground writhing in pain, Sousuke picked the gun up and pointed it at him.

"How - how dare you! I'm part of the Khmer Rouge regime! You won't get away with this!" The man threatened.

Sousuke caught the words "Khmer Rouge," coupled with the way this man was dressed... no, impossible.

The man lunged at Sousuke. Bad move. Sousuke's immediate reaction was to shoot the man and kill him.

Sousuke was now more confused than ever. Khmer Rouge? Sousuke doubted that the man was trying to tell him he was attacking him out of revenge for something Sousuke did during the Khmer Rouge. Sousuke wasn't even born back then. A Khmer Rouge sympathizer? Those were rare. And why would they attack him? And yet Sousuke could tell right away that this man was not a part of Amalgam.

Sousuke took out his radio and attempted to contact Mithril headquarters. However, all he received was static. This was completely unnatural. Mithril was not so behind in technology that their reception would not reach here. Where was this? Cambodia, Sousuke supposed. From Merida to Cambodia. Nothing was making sense to him.

Sousuke cautiously made his way through the jungle, hoping that someone, or something, would give him a clue as to where the hell he was. He heard the sound of crackling - footsteps on leaves. He quickly hid himself behind a tree and waited.

A group of men, dressed the same as the man Sousuke just killed, were walking by. They were talking and laughing raucously, and seemed to be in high spirits. At least, until they saw the body of one of their comrades. They seemed to notice that the kill was fresh, and were now looking for the person who dared to harm one of them.

They all seemed very nervous, and one of them lost it. Aiming his gun at random parts of the wilderness, he fired. And with the horrible luck Sousuke seemed to have right now, his line of fire eventually fell to the tree Sousuke was hiding behind. It was no longer safe to stay behind the tree - any slight deflection of a bullet, any slight shot from an angle, could spell very bad news for Sousuke if he were to remain there. Sousuke rolled to take cover behind a large rock that covered more area. Taking out his machine gun pistol, Sousuke prepared to take the enemies down.

The enemies, on the other hand, caught a glimpse of him. Some of them were delighted, mentioning that they had a beauty this time. They jeered at him to come out, and one of them joked that he would be fun to play with, as he had softer and paler skin than any villager here. All of these comments fell to deaf ears. Sousuke remained unprovoked by them - especially considering that he had no idea what they were saying.

It only took him two minutes, once prepared, to take the entire unit down. Sousuke noted that their weapons seemed very outdated, and they were complete amateurs in combat compared to him. If he were less apathetic, perhaps he might have felt a bit bad, even, by how easy it was to take their lives.

What Sousuke was most worried about, however, was being slowly affirmed. He had been suppressing this theory within his mind, hoping it was not the case. But more and more, he was being convinced that it had happened. Leonard's plan succeeded. TARTAROS was activated on Merida. This was the past - the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. But somehow, Leonard's plan did not completely succeed. Sousuke was still the same. Although time was reset, Sousuke seemed to be the only one unaffected by the time change. He was sent back in history.

This was ridiculous. Sousuke hated things like this - the supernatural, which he had a hard time wrapping his mind around. It was the same with the Lambda Driver. "Just believe." He was the last person in the world that liked "just believing" in stuff like this. But right now, he had no other choice but to believe that that was what happened.

Sousuke wandered blindly around the forest, desperately trying to find his way. He was exhausted, and it was getting dark. This wouldn't do. He would have to find a place to rest for the night. He made his way to a large tree, and stopped to catch his breath. It was then that he heard a growl coming from a bush across. He slowly aimed his pistol, and waited. And out from the bush came a tiger. They both stared at each other, looking into the other's eyes. It was a bizarre staring contest, with both regarding the other cautiously.

It became a stalemate after several minutes passed. The atmosphere was less tense, and it seemed almost like a game for the tiger. Somehow, somewhere along the line, this tiger seemed to regard Sousuke as one of its kind. And Sousuke was reminded of Shiro when he looked at this tiger. A cautious pet kitty, who was just trying to survive. So much like him.

"Akatora. You're a good kitty. Good boy - sit." Sousuke encouraged, using the same stern, yet calm voice he used with Shiro.

The tiger purred, seeming very pleased with its new name. It stepped in front of Sousuke and laid down.

Sousuke slowly kneeled in front of it and pet its head. The tiger's eyes sparkled, and it nuzzled Sousuke.

Son of Bdakshon's Tiger. This name had many meanings. Part of it had been a joke on the part of Sousuke's old comrades. They found it highly amusing that Sousuke had such an affinity to wild animals. That he could tame even the most viscous of tigers, as he was one himself. For Sousuke, it had always been that way. He understood tigers more than he understood most humans, and he would oftentimes prefer their company. For a more extreme example, he could deal with a tiger with much more ease than he could deal with a woman. Kaname, Tessa, and Mao showed him this time and again. Tigers listened to reason and made sense - women did not.

"Akatora, we both need strength. It's hard, isn't it? Dealing with all this hardship. But we will survive. Because we're warriors." Sousuke stroked and pet his new friend, and the tiger purred happily at the warm contact. They both fell asleep together, and for Sousuke, it was a much warmer night than it could have been thanks to Akatora's fluffy body.


	2. Fated Meeting

_AN: Again, warning readers that this story has slash / shounen-ai of Gauron towards Sousuke, so if you don't like that stuff, there's a high chance you won't like this. __This story is based **largely** on **Madhouse Cabaret**'s fanfic "Full Metal Panic: Versions of Violence" with regards to Gauron's past and childhood, and is supposed to go hand-in-hand with it. Also, Madhouse Cabaret showed me this epic song that goes amazingly well with the last section (divider part) of the chapter, and I really recommend listening to it while you read it: _**youtube(dot)com/watch?v=rTye0rl1s2o**

It must have been a week now, and Sousuke felt like he was going insane. He had to kill countless people in this forsaken forest. None of them were willing to negotiate, and even when threatened, the language barrier made things almost impossible. Sousuke was weary, and tired. This felt like when he was in Afghanistan, except worse. At least there, he had many comrades he could talk with. The only companion he had here was Akatora, which he certainly was grateful for. But even then, the tiger let Sousuke know that it had a busy schedule, and would only return to keep him company when it had time. Thankfully, Sousuke had no problems finding food in the form of edible fruit and rabbits. But the constant killing and lack of progress was taking its toll on Sousuke. More than ever, Sousuke was finding himself reverting back to "Kashim" to cope with all of this.

No longer could he afford to take the same attitude he took when he was with Kaname in Jindai High. This happened every now and then. He would ping pong back and forth. Whenever he would be put into high stress situations for too long, he would mentally adjust and take on the attitude of Kashim. It was the only way he could survive. And now was definitely a time of high stress. Sousuke found himself becoming desensitized to all these deaths he was causing.

Sousuke wondered what the people from the Khmer Rouge thought about him killing so many of their members. Things might get messy if they started targeting him. And then there was how he was going to get back into the present time. That was a whale of a problem. And truth be told, Sousuke had no plan at all for that. He wished he had the Lambda Driver so he could do something ridiculous and magical, like "just believe" he was back in the present. But unfortunately, the Lambda Driver was not invented yet. Sousuke felt something very similar to a cynical sense of humor - never did he expect himself to wish that the Lambda Driver was invented.

Perhaps the first step into figuring a way out would be to travel to Merida Island. That was where TARTAROS was activated. Perhaps there would be a clue there. But for now, there was no use thinking too deeply into it - immediate survival would be his foremost goal. And just that alone seemed like a big enough challenge.

* * *

Nhean had been bored for quite a while now. It was always the same - the same screaming, crying victims. The same executions. Even when he tried to spice things up with a creative flair and put on a nice show, in the end it was all the same. A bunch of humanist bugs sobbing their eyes out and blaming the regime.

That's why he was intrigued when he heard some of his Khmer Rouge comrades talk about how an insolent civilian got their hands on a gun, and was wreaking havoc on them. Very interesting. So one of the bugs got the balls to try to revolt. It seemed pretty useless to Nhean at first, but from what the others said, this one was causing some serious damage.

"Forty? I heard it was fifty that that little bastard killed. I've never heard of a single person managing to do this. Guess anything can happen."

Nhean calmly listened in. He wanted to meet this person. A burning desire emerged. He didn't know why, but something, somewhere, was telling him that everything would change if he could just meet this person.

"Where are you going, Nhean?" One of the men noticed as Nhean gathered his gun and started leaving.

"Tiger hunting," Nhean grinned.

Nhean made his way to the forest. He wasn't sure exactly _what_ he was planning to do if he happened to meet that person. He just acted on a whim. A feeling of, "if I don't go out there to see him now, I might never get to see him." The decision was suicidal, in actuality. In this forest, especially at this time of day, tigers would be prowling, looking for food. And in such lighting, the animals had the advantage. But Nhean continued on.

* * *

Sousuke was sick of this. These people were ridiculous. They attacked everything at sight. Stupidly, too. He was in a horrible mood. Most of it stemmed from the fact that a whole group of soldiers had shot at Akatora, and managed to wound the tiger. When Sousuke tried to stop them (peace talk first, when he can), they tried to attack him and tear his clothes off for some odd reason. He had to kill them. He could tell by the look in their eyes. The look in them was worse than the hungriest of wild beasts.

Shooting these people at such close range made him covered in blood, which made things all the more unpleasant. He made his way towards Akatora. The poor thing was shivering and in great pain.

"You're alright now. I definitely won't let you die. You're alright now, Akatora." Sousuke tried to calm Akatora down in a soothing voice, and took out the basic first aid kit from his pocket. He cleaned his comrade's wound, and slowly started applying temporary bandages. Akatora licked the blood on Sousuke's face, concerned about whether his comrade was wounded as well.

"That tickles! I'm alright. I wasn't hurt by them. You'll be alright too."

Sousuke heard the rustling noise of footsteps. And only then did it occur to Sousuke that this huge group of soldiers probably meant that Sousuke was getting closer to one of the Khmer Rouge headquarters.

There was no place easy that he could immediately throw himself into to take cover.

* * *

Nhean had heard the gunshots that were fired in rapid succession. He felt a feeling of excitement. He quickly made his way to where he heard the noise, his heart hopeful.

He finally found himself at the clearing where the action seemed to take place. _Boy_, did action take place. Bodies of his comrades were strewn everywhere, and the whole place reeked of blood. And in the center of it all, underneath a tree, there was a tiger and a boy. No, Nhean was wrong. There were two tigers.

He realized this fact when the boy turned his face to look Nhean in the eye. Those eyes were amazing. They looked almost like the eyes of the tiger behind him - only more beautiful. They were pure, emotionless eyes - containing no remorse or doubts. As for the rest of the boy... he looked to be around Nhean's age - perhaps a few years younger. And he didn't look Cambodian. He was Asian, alright. But he was very pale, and his skin was smooth (with the exception of a small cross scar on his face). The uniform he was wearing was completely foreign to Nhean. It was a military outfit, no doubt - but from where Nhean had no clue. Over here, this boy certainly would seem like a prize if any of Nhean's comrades got their hands on him. Hell, even if it wasn't over here, the boy would probably be considered beautiful.

He was also covered in blood. That didn't make him any less attractive to Nhean. The whole scene seemed like one big, gorgeous painting. So picturesque. Nhean felt almost like a poet when all the different words to describe the scene came to his mind. He stood there for a while, just staring.

"You people don't let up, do you?"

Did Nhean hear that right? Did that boy just speak Japanese?

"You're Japanese? Interesting. So the one that's been giving my comrades such trouble is a Japanese boy, eh? You certainly had a field day here - you killed them all, right?"

The boy looked at Nhean, and his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"You can speak Japanese? Where is this? And who are you people?"

Nhean laughed. "I think that should be something I would ask you, don't you think? A Japanese boy having a bone to pick with us?"

The boy looked upon him with scorn. "I would not have had to kill if they did not continually antagonize me." He then glanced to the wounded tiger he was tending to. Nhean didn't know what was weirder - the fact that this beautiful Japanese boy was going around killing the regime members, or the fact that he was delicately tending to a _tiger_. But there was one thing Nhean knew - he was ever so grateful he decided to come out here tonight.

"Nice attitude. I like that." Nhean received a glare at this remark, and he continued. "No - I mean it, really. What is your name?"

The boy paused for a second before answering.

"Kashim."


End file.
